Friday, September 20, 2013

‘Carrie’–a musical prelude to Halloween

Atlantis Productions will stage the suspense-horror musical “Carrie” in the weeks leading up to Halloween.

The musical is based on Stephen King’s best-selling novel (first
published in 1974) about a girl who is bullied in school and suffers
under a cruel mother. She soon discovers a special power that she wields
over her tormentors.

Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo headlines the show as the titular
character’s mother Margaret White, while Mikkie Bradshaw (“Rock of
Ages,” “Nine,” “Disney’s Aladdin,”) will play Carrie.

An upcoming film adaptation has Julianne Moore as Carrie’s mother
and Chloe Grace Moretz (“Hugo,” “Kick-Ass,” “(500) Days of Summer”) as
Carrie. Prior to this version, there was a 1976 film adaptation directed
by Brian De Palma, starring Sissy Spacek in the title role.

The musical version debuted on Broadway in 1988 with book by the
film’s screenwriter Lawrence Cohen, music by Michael Gore (“Fame,”
“Terms of Endearment”), and lyrics by Dean Pitchford (“Fame,”
“Footloose”).

The 1988 version was critically panned and closed after only five
performances. The incident was notorious enough to be immortalized in
the title of Ken Mandelbaum’s book “Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of
Broadway Musical Flops.”

Last year, a reworked version by the original collaborators was
staged on a limited engagement Off-Broadway, earning numerous
nominations from different award-giving bodies.

Atlantis is staging the 2012 version. “It is a beautifully tragic
retelling of the Cinderella story with an amazing Broadway pop score,”
says Atlantis’ artistic director Bobby Garcia, who is directing the show
with Jamie Wilson as assistant director and Ceejay Javier as musical
director.

Choreography is by Cecile Martinez, with set design by Otto
Hernandez, lighting design by Martin Esteva, sound design by Bobbit
Jacinto and costume design by Raven Ong.